PortageeIn terms of a Hawk replacement, whilst the T2 is well intended, and may well be a completely new aircraft under the skin, that skin is still that of a Hawk with the limitations that it has, and that’s why the proposal for the USAF with the Hawk aircraft never got off the ground…excuse the pun.
I’m tempted to suggest that the USAF’s drive for a trainer has come too late. BAe in association with one of the US heavy weights with a clean sheet of paper suggestion, that would have been given some UK development funding as well, could have won. The result being British parts, and possibly even an export version production line.
The Typhoon is Ok for the moment, as long as it keeps getting developed and upgraded. The Radar upgrades and new weapons integration are essential.
I’m hoping against hope that BAe will announce in the near future their intention to an up-scaled Taranis, as the base for a Future Strike aircraft, perhaps optionally manned, the lead of a flight of 3 being manned with a pair of ucav wingmen, so that final confirmation is still given by someone on the scene so to speak. Or fully autonomous where it’s well known that there isn’t civilians near by etc.
PortageeE1 would essentially in an unprotected environment cause tracks on a PCB to melt/burn out as if they were fuse wires, so it’s not just the individual components that get fried but the layers on and within the PCB as well.
GarryA : You answered your own question with the first paeagraph of your quote above
Even consumer transient protectors are becoming increasingly able to handle faster rise-time pulses, though. There are special transient protectors that are fast enough to suppress nuclear EMP.
PortageeEast Fortune don’t have an open cockpit policy these days, though I remember as a kid sitting in one or two, and more recently accessing the Vulcan cockpit. The Comet 2 C and BAC 1-11 and Concorde are open to walk through though the cockpits are sealed. In the Concorde hanger they also have the front section of a 707, which again the cockpit isn’t accessible, the left side of the fuselage is set up with 4 push button info stations, whilst some seats are in place on the right hand side with a TV on the bulkhead playing a video about air travel from that era.
As an exhibit this for me works very well, though I’d rather have more of the aircraft and have these in 2 different sections along it’s length rather than side by side.
The Museum have been able to adapt one of the original airfield technical buildings into a science of flight area for kids called “Fantasy of Flight”. Lots of “experiments” that can be done by the kids, the instructions are clear enough that even a non technically minded parent can see what spinning the wheel or pressing the various buttons do to a physical models. Some of the experiments have 2 or 3 stations so the kids can “race” to achievement. There is also the try and land the aircraft type, but in East Fortunes case, it’s an airship as that ties in with it’s history.
Even if you don’t have kids with you, the mechanics of the experiments are viewable (within mesh cages) so an adult passing through who has some technical knowledge can view the engineering side of what’s going as well.
I think that it’s a great way to incorporate the how it all works with a bit of fun, rather than just letting kids sit in a cockpit making usually wrong type of aircraft noises.
PortageeBy the time Scotland manage to arrange second independence referendum..the EU begin to collapse..the contagious effect of Brexit circulated in Benelux..then Scandinavian..put pressure on French to leave..until it left Lonely German to saddle with Southern Europe and Eastern Europe..thus have no choice to disband EU..
Then Scotland have no choice to stay with UK..
The first part may well be true, but for me the second part doesn’t necessarily follow.
If the whole thing split open completely, then the UK would have to form it’s own trade agreements with each of the splintered countries, there is no reason with a Separated Indy Scotland and rUK couldnt form their own separate deals including with each other.
But this is a situation that would need a lot of water to pass under a lot of bridges before we get anywhere near there.
PortageeWhy on earth would Scotland want to saddle itself with a fast jet fleet?
I’m not a member of the SNP but from what I remember of the Indy Manifesto, that Scotland with assistance from the RAF and others would still maintain the Northern Watch. The Scottish Defence force would during a divorce period consolidate Scottish (and those from other parts who wished to stay/come to Scotland) fast jet pilots and those in training into a squadron probably undersized to begin with but gaining strength to either an oversized or 2 light squadrons of Typhoons. I don’t see Scotland having anything to do with the F35 fleet.
The alternative which in my view would make a mockery of being Independent would be to ask rUK (Rest of UK) or NATO to rotate Fast jet squadrons through Scotland in the way that air defence over the Baltic states currently happens.
PortageeScotland will probably leave the UK to remain in EU — I wonder what fighter jets they will buy? If they get Typhoons for free from Little Britain then I guess they will go for that; if not they will probably either go for second-hand F-16 or Gripen E.
Little Britain will keep their Typhoons, and go for a smaller number of F-35.
What a mess.
This was discussed many different times in the lead up to the first Indy Referendum, but on each occasion it ended up getting sidetracked by shall we say, less than helpful comments.
Scotland as UK tax payers would be entitled to a share of UK assets and debts. The assets would include all military equipment. Given the SNP don’t want any of the Deterent fleet and can’t exactly be given a share of 2 QE class. So will negotiate that equipment into more than the standard share…that could be more Typhoons, those 3 OPVs that were ordered around the Indy Ref. But some of the value of shares could be spent in Little Britain as you describe it on training Scottish pilots just as the UK currently train none UK pilots at the moment.
But this is a big subject that will no doubt have a new thread of its own in due course.
PortageeI know this is the news section but a quick question regarding the above AVX and Future lift in general.
All the early design work, even that suggested as being in the Apache attack class, has side by side cockpits. Are the co-axial with pusher designs or the tilt rotors that difficult to fly that they require 2 pairs of hands on the controls? Surely the attack or escort version would be pilot and weapons tandem combination?
PortageeLooks like they have either thinned out the collection, or have moved stuff offsite, the Wessex, Full Canberra fuselage and I’m sure there was a meteor. Has the F111 escape pod been moved inside?
PortageeI knew mention would come around again of new buildings, I deliberately didn’t mention it above so as not to detract from the good work done with the existing hangars.
Apparently a super hangar is still the ultimate goal, there has been a few numbers quoted over the years, but I heard £35m the other day.
Apparently in one of the fields the concrete base with embedded door rails for one end of a hangar remain intact, whether this is an airship hangar or another pre-war i dont know. Current “wouldn’t it be good if” includes digging up and moving these to or building the super hangar over and making a feature of doorway.
The shuffling of aircraft again talk of moving Concorde, the 1-11, comet and pieced together Viscount into the super, with the Vulcan moving into the current Concorde hangar as centre piece of what would be the Cold War hangar.
Again pinch of salt if you will, but there is a 5 year plan for this … Whether that be built within 5 years, or a 5 year long funding campaign is about to be launched and then building work, I don’t know.
PortageeMade it to East Fortune this afternoon for a look around the place, see what differences there are in addition to the opening of the new hangars.
Firstly having a ticket point on the drive way in is something new, and surprisingly hasn’t been in place before. Whilst clearly the attendant can’t give out the range of info on entering the museum it now means that they have better control over paying entry – giving gift aid details out the window of the car seemed a bit strange though. Previously it was all to easy to drive in park up, miss out the shop and wander around the rest of the museum free.
The car park looked fairly busy but from experience the site swallows up a large number of people, it’s only when school or coach groups are in, that it can feel crowded. And so on starting with Hangar 4 Concorde, after a cursory look around the shop, there was only one other couple in the hangar space. At first glance it appeared much as last season, perhaps a re-arrangement of the Concorde displays but nothing significant, until the lighting changed an a video was projected onto a new screen suspended on the hangar doors. At the other end the Jetstream and SuperJetstream mock up take up one corner with the front section of the BOAC marked Boeing 707.
Moving on with the short walk past the Green Goddess and Matador trucks in their spaces…I do wish they could be rolled out in good weather like this afternoon, but realise the work needed day in day out for this.
The new Military Hangar is next, feels strange to walk around the side of it to enter, rather than the tradesman’s door in the big doors. First reactions is Wow, sliding doors into the air conditioned space, with the much mentioned Spitfire elevated before you. I wasn’t sure about seeing the illustrations before and then other people’s pictures, but I have to say it does look impressive this way. There is a number of artefact displays which form a timeline, and the aircraft sort of do as well. The Bolingbroke looks magnificent and is a credit to the many man hours, man days and man years to bring her to this condition. And while I’d still like to have seen a early scheme, the target tug yellow does give the aircraft a certain something. Some of the aircraft’s positioning leaves a little to be desired photographically, the Sea Venom and the Sea Hawk, appear to be after thoughts, and don’t follow the time line around the hangar and the ME 163 Kommet is somewhat hidden under the Bolingbroke’s wing. Given the way that aircraft were rather packed into this hangar previously, you do get a feeling of a much larger building, especially given a viewing platform in the centre. The right hand end is dominated by the three big birds, the Lightning, Tornado and Jaguar. Given their size there is always going to be spaces behind and between fuselages there could perhaps be a ground level display. For example there are pods and missiles that are placed under the aircraft they flew with, some of these together would fill in a space.
The military hanger has items hanging from the ceiling, one is a screen located above the Tornado, don’t miss the Harrier on the back… but the third a Blue backdrop to the Spitfire with images of other spitfires, this in itself I could live without, but on the reverse side there is an huge image of a WW2 fighter station scramble…something that you can’t really see unless you ask permission to squeeze between the noses of the Meteor and the S103 (Mig15).
As a final thought regarding the this Hangar, whilst not wanting to over do something or use the same trick twice. Could the Harrier have been elevated too? Just a few feet that would allow more flexibility in overlapping wings.
Not having access to Hangar 1 felt very strange, being located next to the School/education room and with the Comet and Vulcan in close proximity. The APSS have apparently taken over this hangar as workshop space, and so isn’t currently suitable for public admission. The Museum and the APSS are looking at ways to allow public access but this is taking time.
Over at the new civilian hangar, again with new entrance, the available space makes you feel as though you have walked into something much larger than you remember from it being essentially a storage, and workshop hangar for the Bolingbroke. Whilst there is nothing “new” within the hangar it’s good to see the aircraft that are in there with room to breathe. The Twin Pin dominates, as it would in any hangar, but it’s nice to see the Anson beside it for size comparison. There is a nice spread of aircraft right down to microlight and autogyros. Together with sail planes hanging from the ceiling….that takes me back to the pre-concorde days when there was hand gliders with mannequins hanging from the roof of that hangar.
Nice and shiny but where are the rest….There is still a number of aircraft in store, whether that be with the APSS in Hangar 1 or elsewhere. The obvious examples are the beaufighter wreckage, the Nimrod front end, and the entire rocketry section. The Viscount fuselage appears to have gone indoors somewhere as well though the wings still well wrapped remain outside. Speaking of outside, the Buccaneer and the Phantom are both still outside. Without the space that Hangar 1 gives, it’s hard to see them going indoors this summer.
Some of the other aircraft are heading for the NMS main building in Chamber Street in Edinburgh, for their new Science and Technology galleries, they include the Pilcher Hawk, the tiger moth, the Auster. The illustrations for these galleries suggest all will be suspended from the roof so will be worth a trip into the city centre after it opens in July.
The only question that remains is what’s next for East Fortune…please not another 10+ years before the next innovation?
I hope no-one minds I’ve written this as a “report”, it was the easiest way for me to express my views on the old place.
PortageeAircraft outside are Vulcan, Comet, One-Eleven, Phantom and Bucc. The Viscount is wrapped up outside with wings off. Janguar is inside.
The guide says hangar 1 closed.
I was told by one of the guides just prior to the rebuild work, that the museum was looking into puting it’s “space” and rocketry exihibit into hangar 1. I don’t know if they were thinking permanent or perhaps over the summer given the Tim Peake ISS mission. Some of it lived in there pre-Concorde and pre tornado.
PortageeIt almost sounds like a medium to high altitude cruise missile with recessed ASRAAM or some other short range missiles that could independently seek their own targets once launched . It sounds great against a target rich environment but where do you come across formations of “enemy” aircraft like that now. I’d assume the mother missile would aim for the largest target.
PortageeWould an F-35’s engine fit inside a V-22 or would they sling load it?
It fits inside the v22.
PortageeI’d like to hope that some would be bought for and operated by the FAA.
What realistically would be the right number…6?
One carrier at sea with one aboard, 2 forward deploying into the carriers operational area with 3 back home for continuity training of flight and ground crews.
The actual conversion training being outsourced to the US?
On a rare occasion where bother QE and POW were at sea it would be one aboard with only one forward deploying with each leaving 2 back home?
If we are talking Chinook replacements and they still have plenty of life in them yet, then something like the Lockheed Ares ducted fan (Unmanned cargo lifter), even upscaled into a (un)manned Quad for heavier/larger cargo boxes.
PortageeAdd another 7 decommissioned boats at Rosyth
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